The Daughters (24 page)

“And
who
are you?”

Ilona stood on the doorstep of her own Halloween party that night and looked Lizzie’s costume up and down. “I sort of don’t
get it,” she sneered.

From the flouncy black dress that barely covered her butt, the little white doily pinned to her head, and the pink feather
duster in her hand, it was blatantly obvious what Ilona was supposed to be. A French maid.
How original
, Lizzie thought.

“Daisy Buchanan,” Lizzie answered, adjusting her black feather headband. “She’s a character in
The Great Gatsby
. Which you probably haven’t read yet,” she added with a smile.

If anyone at this party did know who Daisy Buchanan was, Lizzie thought, they’d be impressed. She’d worn one of Katia’s blue
silk Lanvin sheaths, with a lavender sash tied around the hips to give it a drop-waist look, and topped it off with a long
strand of fake pearls, a painted-on beauty mark, and a wig with chin-length black hair that Hudson had swiped from Holla’s
extensive collection. Yes, she looked just like Daisy, but there was really only one person who would get it. And he certainly
wouldn’t be here tonight.

Ilona turned her attention to Carina. “Are you a zombie?” she asked, crinkling her nose.

Carina’s pale gray face makeup and reddened circles around her eyes were at odds with her preppy pearls-and-cardigan outfit.
“A zombie
Martha Stewart
,” Carina corrected.

“And I’m a Goth Swiss Miss,” Hudson offered, gesturing to her braided pigtails and new dress from Martin. “Or a Leather Milkmaid.
Either one.”

“Is Ava here?” Lizzie asked, sensing that she should find the person who’d invited her to this as soon as possible.

“She’s in the kitchen,” Ilona said, waving vaguely with the duster toward an open door.

Lizzie, Carina, and Hudson headed into the kitchen. Inside they found Ava, dressed as Batgirl, squeezing a lime into something
that looked like a gin and tonic.

“He-
ey
!” Ava cried out in her usual singsong. She seemed to have fully recovered from her crying fest in the park. “
Soooo
glad you guys could make it. Love your costume!” she said to Lizzie. “What are you?”

“Oh, it’s something from
The Great Gatsby
.”

“Ohh,” Ava said carefully but judgmentally, taking a sip of her drink. “That’s cool.”

Even though she knew he wouldn’t be coming to this, Lizzie did a quick sweep of the kitchen for Todd. Ever since the day he’d
given her the book, he hadn’t come to school, and nobody knew where he was, or what had happened to him. The rumor going around
was that Ava had shamed him into staying home ever since her dumping. He’d texted Lizzie earlier that afternoon, asking to
get together that weekend to work on their project, so whatever was wrong couldn’t be that dire. She hadn’t written him back.
If he’d been so concerned about the project, she figured, he wouldn’t have cancelled on her the other night. And on Monday
morning, she’d be at the photo shoot, so she wouldn’t be doing the presentation anyway.

As Carina and Hudson poured themselves some cranberry juice, Ava pulled Lizzie aside.

“Have you heard from Todd?” she asked with an edge of desperation in her voice, her brown eyes glittering. “Ilona invited
him but he didn’t write back or anything.”

Lizzie wanted to ask why Todd had been invited at all, and why Ava even cared, but she just shrugged. “He texted me this afternoon
about our project, but I haven’t written him back. Are you feeling better?”

“Oh yeah, totally,” she said, knocking her drink back. “I mean, I wanted him out of my life anyway. So I should be happy,
right?”

“Uh, yeah,” Lizzie said, playing with the strand of pearls. She wasn’t quite sure where this conversation was going.

“So… you’re not gonna date him, right?” Ava asked suddenly. “I mean, you can if you want to, but you know he’s bad news, right?”
Ava stepped closer, and Lizzie could smell her cloying perfume.

“Wait—why would I date Todd Piedmont?” Lizzie asked.

Ava grabbed her arm and laughed like she’d said the funniest thing in the world. “Oh my God, Lizzie, don’t take it so seriously!
I was just kidding! Oh, and do you know if your mom is gonna come up with something for the charity ball? ’Cuz we kind of
need those prizes pretty soon.”

For a moment, Lizzie wasn’t sure if she’d heard Ava right. “I really don’t know yet,” she said, seething. So much for hoping
that she and Ava could actually turn out to be friends, she thought. Now that she was over her Todd trauma, Ava was back to
her old self.

Ava turned away to say something to Cici, and Carina took Lizzie’s arm. “Don’t look now, but Carter McLean is staring at you,”
Carina whispered into her ear.

Lizzie glanced across the kitchen at the guys. Even in someone’s apartment, the boys still clung to the opposite side of the
room from the girls, and hardly any of them were dressed in real costumes. Sure enough, Carter McLean—the hottest guy in the
tenth grade—was across the room with his friends, but he wasn’t looking at Lizzie. Instead his sexy green eyes were trained
on Carina.

“Um, he’s looking at
you
, C,” Lizzie said.

“Really?” Carina asked.

As they looked back at him, Carter smiled broadly, flicked his dark curls out of his eyes, and then turned back to his friends.

“Wow,” Lizzie said. Even she had felt the heat of his look.

“Let’s go out to the living room,” Carina whispered. When they were back in the hallway, Carina leaned in close to her friends,
her cheeks flushed. “Was it just me, or was he checking me out?”

“He really was,” Hudson said.

“Yep,” Lizzie agreed.

Carina waggled her eyebrows and grinned. “Well,
that’s
interesting.”

“I think Ava still likes Todd,” Lizzie told them. “She kept asking me if I thought he was coming to this.”

“Looks like she got her wish,” Hudson said under her breath, nodding toward the living room.

Lizzie looked over. Todd, unbelievably, was here.

He stood by himself in the living room, holding a red plastic cup and looking deeply uncomfortable. Lizzie realized it was
because he was the only guy in an actual costume. At least, she hoped it was a costume. He wore a crisp white tuxedo with
a natty red pocket square, shiny black shoes, and his hair was slicked back with pomade, like a man from the nineteen twenties.
Then she realized who he was. His blue eyes landed on her, and from the way they stayed locked on hers, she knew she had to
go over and say hi.

“I’ll be right back, guys,” she said, and made her way toward Todd. Her right leg felt shaky, but she ignored it. She said
a quick, fervent prayer that she wouldn’t throw up. And then she was right in front of him.

“Hi, Todd,” she managed to say.

“Hi,” he said quietly, looking over her costume. “Lemme guess. Pearls, headdress. Beauty mark. Daisy Buchanan?”

“And you’re Jay Gatsby.”

“Or just very overdressed for this party,” he said with a shy smile that made her heart seesaw. “So…,” he said, rocking back
and forth on his heels, “did you get my text? About the English thing? It’s due Monday, right?”

“I did, but… I won’t be in school that day. I’m kind of working. I have a modeling job.”

He frowned. “Wait. You’re not gonna be in school?” He scratched his head, making a dent in his pomade. “What about me? Am
I supposed to just fail it because you’re not gonna be there?”

“
You’re
the one who hasn’t shown up. You blew me off the other night.” She glanced around the party. Ava was liable to walk in and
see them at any moment. “Let’s go in here,” she said, brushing past him through a pair of French doors into the dining room.

He followed her into the dark, quiet room. “I’ve had some stuff going on,” he said in a low voice.

“Uh, yeah, I know,” she said, letting her voice curdle with sarcasm. “I know all about it.”

He cocked his head. In the dim light she could see the confusion in his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean how Ava dumped you. After you
cheated
on her.”

Todd gave a short, surprised laugh. “Is
that
what she said?”

“She said you hooked up with some girl at a party. Some girl from Pomfret. And that she dumped you. I’m amazed you even showed
up here tonight.”

“And you
believe
that?” he sputtered.

“It’s bad enough that you play with
my
head, but to do it with your own girlfriend? What’s your problem?”

“Wait—playing with
your
head?” he repeated.

“Oh come
on
,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Flirting with me, telling me secrets, giving me a book that cost tons of money and that I
don’t even ask for? While you’re going out with someone else?”

He didn’t say anything. She stepped closer to him, and this time she was too angry to notice his dreamy scent.

“Who does stuff like that? Except a total player?”

Todd flinched.

“All this time, I thought you were a decent guy. The guy I used to know. Obviously, I was wrong.”

She tried to walk past him to leave, but Todd stepped in front of her, blocking the way.

“No,
I
was wrong,” he said. “I should never have gone out with her, but I did. And when I realized I’d made a mistake, I ended it.
I probably should have done it sooner, but I didn’t want to hurt her. I did it the night you and I were supposed to work together.
I told her that I wanted to be friends. And she started to cry and wouldn’t let me leave.
That’s
why I couldn’t come over to your house.” He shook his head. “But no, you believe this crazy story of hers that I
cheated
on her.” He took a step backward. “Do you really think I would do that, Lizzie?”

Her eyes had gotten used to the darkness now, and she could see the anger and hurt in his face.

“I thought you knew me better than that. I thought you were my friend.” He shook his head. “Whatever. Have fun on Monday.
And thanks for the fail.” He turned on his heels and walked out through the French doors, letting them swing open behind him.

Lizzie didn’t move. She stayed in the quiet darkness of the dining room, her hand on Ilona’s dining table to keep her steady.
Todd’s disgusted voice rang through her mind like a howling car alarm. She had gotten it all completely wrong. Todd was a
decent guy after all. And now he hated her.

Lizzie waited until she was sure Todd wasn’t hovering right outside the French doors, and then made her way back into the
party. She found her friends in the corner.

“What happened?” Hudson gasped. “Did you guys just get in a fight? Todd stormed out of the room.”

“I have to go, you guys,” she said quietly. “Now.” Hot tears were dangerously close to filling her eyes.

“No problem,” Carina said. “We’re so out of here.”

They followed Lizzie into the hall, where Ilona and Ava were standing over what looked like a shattered vase. Pieces of white
porcelain were strewn across the carpet.

“Someone just slammed the front door so hard this fell down,” Ilona said. “My mom’s gonna
kill
me.”

Lizzie instantly knew who it was.

“All I saw was some guy in white,” Ilona said. “In some weird tux.”

“It was Todd,” Lizzie said.

“Todd?” Ava practically shrieked. “Are you sure?” She eyed the front door. “Why’d he leave?”

“And why was he in a white tux?” Ilona asked.

Lizzie averted her eyes. She didn’t have the strength right now to explain. “I have to go, you guys. Sorry. I think I’m a
little sick.”

Pretending she didn’t notice Ava and Ilona’s odd stares, Lizzie staggered out the front door, pulling her feathered headband
off. Lizzie leaned her head against the frame of the elevator. Her heart still pounded and she felt dizzy.

Hudson patted her back. “Don’t listen to him. He’s a jerk, Lizzie.”

“Lizzie, Todd Piedmont is a waste of your time,” Carina said clearly. “He doesn’t deserve such a fabulous, incredible person.
He doesn’t.”

“It needed to end,” Hudson said in a soothing voice. “Let him go.”

Lizzie nodded and swallowed her tears. This was so silly. Her life was going so well. It was ridiculous to let a guy get in
the middle of it. She was the luckiest girl on earth, and everything—everything—was going her way. Except the one thing she
cared about more than anything else had just slipped through her fingers. And she was fairly sure she’d never get it back.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Lizzie’s alarm woke her with a jolt. She sat up in bed and looked at the clock. It was seven fifteen. Which meant that she
had an hour to get down to the studio in SoHo for the photo shoot. As she threw off the covers, Mission Muse went into effect.

She showered, dressed in her uniform, packed her bookbag, and even ate a bowl of cereal in front of Irlene, who was engrossed
in the
Today
show. Finally, she breezed through the lobby doors and out onto the street. It was another gray, chilly day. With one quick
look over her shoulder at her building, she hurried down Columbus and to the downtown subway station. She’d never cut school
before, and now the thrill of it was eerily liberating.

Waiting on the subway platform, she thought of Todd and their fight. She’d spent all of Sunday mulling over what he’d said,
and now she felt even worse about believing Ava’s story. But the way his voice had dripped with disdain, the way he’d shaken
his head with disgust, the way he’d walked out on her in Ilona’s house… she was only too happy to be skipping English. Of
course, Mr. Barlow would be a little bent out of shape, but she could handle that.

“Lizzie! Hello!” cried Martin when she walked in, grasping her hand and kissing both her cheeks. He wore black jeans and a
ripped T-shirt with an image of Iggy Pop on the front. “I’m s
o
glad everything worked out. Are we ready to have a good time? And is
that
your uniform?” He bent down to touch a piece of her skirt. “That plaid is so
arcane
. I love it. Maybe I’ll use it for the fall collection.”